MySQL and ODBC Connections Made Easier (version 3.2.91h)

In our ongoing work to improve the usability of RapidiOnline and make it easier to connect to different data sources, we have given the MySQL and ODBC Connections a workover.

We have had support for both MySQL and ODBC for a long time and both connection options are used by a number of our customers. MySQL is popular for websites, e-commerce, and content management systems and we can connect both to locally installed systems or systems hosted on the internet (the latter through a direct connection from our server and thus not requiring a local RapidiConnector).

The MySQL connection can also be used with the popular open-source database MariaDB which is the plugin compatible with MySQL but generally is regarded as faster than MySQL.

Another popular open-source database called PostGre SQL is supported through the ODBC connector.

MySQL and ODBC Connection Card Updated

We have updated the MySQL and the ODBC Connection cards in MyRapidi. We have added the Port and the Server Connect fields to MySQL and Port and Server Name/IP to ODBC. This makes it easier and more intuitive to specify the connection parameters correctly.

Example of Connection for MySQL

Example of Connection for ODBC

We have also updated the respective descriptions in our wiki on how to setup these connections:

https://myrapidi.com/wiki/MySQL

https://myrapidi.com/wiki/ODBC

There are many ways to setup these connections, but we hope these enhanced descriptions make it more clear and easy to set up connections to either MySQL or ODBC Data Sources.

For the ODBC Connection, we have also removed an old feature that stored the connection string in RTI in the background. The feature was used with some ODBC drivers that popped up dialogs for the user to enter additional parameters. The feature is not relevant anymore as the RapidiConnector is running as a service and cannot show a dialog to the user. It could in some circumstances seem like the system did not take note of the changes that were made in the connection card later - it continued to use the cached (hidden) connection string. Now the parameters are always taken from the ODBC Connection card.

Most of the connection options work directly with existing versions of both central and the RapidiConnector, but if you have any issues getting the connections to work, we recommend upgrading either the central or the RapidiConnector in question to version 3.2.91h or later.

Contact our Support Team on this.

Best Regards

Michael